It was belatedly reported that around 10 North Korean defectors were arrested by police while attempting to travel to South Korea from China earlier this month.
On the 22nd, Daily NK’s local Chinese source reported that, “Earlier this month, about 10 North Korean defectors who were trying to go to South Korea were arrested by Chinese police while heading toward the border of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.”
The arrest was made after the Chinese husband of a North Korean defector woman who was part of the group reported her to the police.
The woman ran away from her home to go to Korea with the child she had with a Chinese man. It has been reported that her Chinese husband reported the disappearance of the woman and the child to the police as soon as he realized they were gone.
Afterwards, the police immediately began tracking her down, and eventually all of the other defectors who were with the woman were arrested and are currently being held in prison.
Their current situation is being reported to defectors in China, causing them to feel sorry. According to sources, defectors who heard the news of their arrests are lamenting, “Why did they have to leave at such a dangerous and sensitive time?” and criticizing the broker, saying, “The broker who recruited so many people at once is bad. He doesn’t think about the safety of defectors in order to make money.”
A source said, “It seems likely that all of the North Korean defectors arrested this time will be repatriated,” adding, “The police emphasize that if they live quietly, nothing will happen, but if they go to South Korea or commit various crimes, they cannot help them no matter how much they want to and that they will definitely be repatriated.”
Recently, there have been rumors circulating in China that anyone going to South Korea will be repatriated regardless of the reason, and sources claim that since the beginning of this year, North Korean defectors who were caught trying to go to South Korea have been repatriated.
North Korean defectors also know that if they are caught while trying to go to South Korea, there is a high possibility that they will be repatriated, but sources say that quite a few are risking their lives to escape the increasing surveillance and control by the Chinese authorities and their lives of constant anxiety and fear.
In relation to this, our newspaper reported on the 17th that the public security in Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province, China, is further strengthening surveillance by starting a project to install a facial authentication app on the phones of North Korean defectors. (Go to related article: Chinese public security introduces facial authentication app and requests ‘authentication shots’ from North Korean defectors)
The source also said, “There are defectors who say they want to go to South Korea even now because they think that surveillance is getting stronger, but they may never be able to go there again,” adding, “If they stay in China, they won’t be able to leave their homes freely and won’t be able to receive proper treatment at hospitals even if they get sick. So they say, ‘I can’t live this prison-like life in my only life,’ and they are making the extremely dangerous journey to South Korea.”
Meanwhile, as news spread of the arrest of around 10 North Korean defectors, brokers are having a hard time as defectors who had decided to risk their lives to go to South Korea and had contacted brokers to set dates are canceling their plans and even blocking their calls, sources said.
Source: www.dailynk.com
